2018 is upon us and as many accounting businesses prepare for the new year, it's important to understand some of the biggest industry trends. If you take a look back at the accounting trends in 2017, the majority of them were surrounding cloud-based and automated solutions. So, what are some of the changes that we can expect to see in 2018? Have the trends changed much? Well, the short answer is no. But continue reading if you'd like to know the accounting trends for 2018.

1. CLOUD-BASED ACCOUNTING SOLUTIONS

For the second year in a row, cloud-based accounting solutions are the number one trend in the accounting industry. This year it has gained even more momentum in the business world because the concept of using shared resources, including accounting software that runs on the providers' servers and being able to access financial information in the cloud, has made these solutions both accessible and efficient.

2. AUTOMATION

Similarly to cloud-based accounting solutions, automation was a top 5 trend in accounting last year. Cloud-based accounting solutions and automation go hand-in-hand and can hardly exist without each other and the most successful cloud-based accounting solutions enable organizations to minimize data entry. Similarly to last year, this is moving accountants away from the more traditional roles towards consulting.

3. OUTSOURCING

Third on the trends list in 2017, the third biggest trend in 2018. Many organizations are still working on ways to outsource their accounting so that they can focus more on their core business and resource allocation. This trend is not limited to small and medium-sized businesses, even big corporations are starting to outsource.

4. TRANSPARENCY

As technology continues to improve, so do the methods of data mining. The new forms of information gathering make data more accurate and more transparent to an organizations managers, thus making it easier for them to make important decisions.

5. SOCIAL MEDIA INTEGRATION

As social media continues to grow in popularity, there is an increase in the number of accounting professionals who are using it to update and communicate with their peers on the latest business, political, and accounting developments that may impact their work. This makes the industry increasingly in tune with each other.

As we move forward into 2018 with optimism, it's important to get a grasp on all that is changing within the accounting industry. More than half of the top trends for 2018 were also top trends for 2017 so if your organization has yet to update it's accounting practices, you're running out of time.

Self-pay is an additional burden for hospitals that are already struggling to reduce costs and increase revenue. Increasing efforts toward collecting past due medical debts on is a necessary process that many hospitals who have limited resources cannot afford to do on their own. Luckily, there are is a plethora of affordable outside services that can aid in this process, many of which are cloud-based.

2018 is upon us and as many accounting businesses prepare for the new year, it's important to understand some of the biggest industry trends. If you take a look back at the accounting trends in 2017, the majority of them were surrounding cloud-based and automated solutions. So, what are some of the changes that we can expect to see in 2018? Have the trends changed much? Well, the short answer is no. But continue reading if you'd like to know the accounting trends for 2018.

Cloud computing and cloud-based solutions aren't the next best thing, they are already here and this movement is largely being driven by end users and tech shops. This has created a micro-management mess for many companies. In a large study, Symantec found that the average number of cloud apps in use in various industries was 926. As more cloud-based solutions become available and utilized, companies need to implement streamlined processes that make the integration and implementation phase easier. Defining this process has now largely fallen in the hands of the CFO largely because of how these solutions effect OpEx and CapEx.

It's not uncommon for organizations to struggle with their accounts receivable management. Although the account helps you realize your revenue, it's hard to fully grasp its many concepts. The bottom line is that improper accounts receivable management will lead to less income. In fact, according to 43% of small businesses have customers who are more than 90 days past due on payments and that will lead to serious losses in their income. According to a study conducted by Atradisu Payment Practices Barometer found that that businesses lose as much as 53 percent of the value of their receivables if they are not paid within 90 days of their due date. It's important that you understand how vital it is for your company to stay on top of its accounts receivable, here are 7 ways to improve your accounts receivable management.

According to Healthcare Finance, healthcare consumers are now responsible for 30% to 35% of their healthcare bill. Since patient payment and collection practices are consistently becoming more complex, deductibles have also continued to rise. Furthermore, collection costs are much higher for patients as compared to payer collection. Both of these factors have lead to the evolution of patients being the primary payer source. Although patients are now the primary payer source, let's face it, they have a lot going on and paying their bill is not a top priority.

Hospitals, pharmacies, and other healthcare providers are constantly searching for new ways to decrease bad debt and maximize their reimbursement. As they continue this process, it's imperative that they can identify which patients are true self-pay and which patients are self-pay after insurance. If they are self-pay after insurance they will have a high-deductible plan and still owe a large sum of money after coverage.

The healthcare industry is in the midst of a huge change with its patient collection programs. This change is causing strides towards designing sophisticated and patient-friendly programs that increase transparency, improve user experience, and minimize pressure from the IRS. These programs help hospitals, pharmacies, and other healthcare providers offer easy-to-understand patient statements and front-end eligibility help. Furthermore, the real-time analytics that these solutions provide make it easier to comprehend entire portfolios from the click of a button. However, if an organization fails to realize this trend they will fall behind. Below we've listed ways that healthcare organizations can survive the changing self-pay patient landscape.

An average of 32% of practices’ revenue stream comes from patient responsibilities. This means that recovering on your self-pay patient balances is more important now than it has ever been in the past and it shows no signs of slowing in importance. In fact, 33% of respondent hospitals, receivables are growing faster than patient revenue. How can organizations, specifically those that work within the pharmaceutical industry, manage their recovery process without losing an excessive amount of employee effort?

In case you didn't know, Millennials are classified as the age group that was born between 1980 and early 2000s. As they have started to enter the workforce, many Millennials have already established successful businesses, and 67% of the generation cohort want to start their own business. But, like most small business owners, Millennials are starting to run into a few major challenges that are inevitable.

Small businesses are the lifeblood of the United States economy because of their ability to innovate their industry landscapes. However, it's not uncommon for small business owners to feel overwhelmed due to the number of problems they have to face on a daily basis. Below we've listed the 3 biggest accounting problems small businesses face.